Chenango DPW deals with late state, fed payments, Rt. 12 project timeline
NORWICH – Making payroll has been tight for the Chenango County Department of Public Works lately as $1.4 million in state and federal reimbursements are still out.
DPW Director Randy Gibbon told members of the Public Works Committee Sept. 18 that the New York State Transportation Department owed the county $800,000 for work completed on state Rt. 12 along the Halfway House Bridge juncture. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Association was scheduled to reimburse the department $700,000 for the Race Road Bridge. Gibbon said that project could be completed this week.
A $1.7 million reimbursement from the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program came through over the weekend.
“It hurts our budgeting when we don’t get reimbursement when we expect it from them,” Gibbon said.
The director pointed to NYSDOT reimbursements that were previously approved, but then subject to review again. “We have received notice from the DOT that we will hear their decision soon,” he told the committee. Everything was already in place for payment, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
Gibbon said his department had more than $1 million in outstanding bills.
The Race Road Bridge is scheduled to open to traffic by week’s end. Other road work on the docket this week includes shoulder improvements on county Routes 9, 10, 24 and 39; setting a concrete box culvert on county Rt. 23A, creating a detour for county Rt. 28 in order to install a box culvert on 38; and continuing the bicycle and hiking pathways along county Rt. 32 from Oxford to Greene.
State Route 12 project
As for improvements to Rt. 12, NYSDOT Region 9 Public Information Director David Hamburg said the tentative schedule calls for a $16.1 million project in Greene to begin in 2011. Plans are to widen the roadway and improve drainage systems at the road’s intersections with 41 and Chenango Street.
The schedule is subject to change, however. “With the fiscal circumstances such as they are, bid dates and project dates may have to move,” Hamburg said.
The plan to improve and upgrade the Route 12 corridor connecting Utica and Binghamton was hatched by a regional task force led by the Chenango County Chamber of Commerce back in 2000. The original cost estimate for the project was $40 million. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer was integral in securing an initial $24 million in federal funding.
Hamburg said no new improvements were planned for three other Chenango County intersections with Rt. 12, one in Sherburne (at Rt. 80), and two in Norwich (at state Rt. 23 and Lower Ravine Road). In a public address made last May at Unison Industries, Sen. Schumer admonished the NYSDOT for dragging their feet on the project and not addressing specific Chenango County intersections
The federal legislator said Rt. 12 was “a nightmare for the entire region” and the state’s transportation department had “made minimal effort to tackle the problem.”
Hamburg said the NYSDOT had discussed the project with Schumer’s office since his address. “He appreciates and understands that we are moving as diligently as we possibly can,” he said.
A spokesperson from Schumer’s office did not return a phone call.
“Route 12 is important to the DOT and we know how important it is for everyone in the corridor,” Hamburg said. “But, it is a matter of balancing our core assets and doing other work as well. ... We don’t have enough money and are unable to divert our work from higher priority work such as bridge safety and managing assets,’ Hamburg said.
DPW Director Randy Gibbon told members of the Public Works Committee Sept. 18 that the New York State Transportation Department owed the county $800,000 for work completed on state Rt. 12 along the Halfway House Bridge juncture. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Association was scheduled to reimburse the department $700,000 for the Race Road Bridge. Gibbon said that project could be completed this week.
A $1.7 million reimbursement from the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program came through over the weekend.
“It hurts our budgeting when we don’t get reimbursement when we expect it from them,” Gibbon said.
The director pointed to NYSDOT reimbursements that were previously approved, but then subject to review again. “We have received notice from the DOT that we will hear their decision soon,” he told the committee. Everything was already in place for payment, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
Gibbon said his department had more than $1 million in outstanding bills.
The Race Road Bridge is scheduled to open to traffic by week’s end. Other road work on the docket this week includes shoulder improvements on county Routes 9, 10, 24 and 39; setting a concrete box culvert on county Rt. 23A, creating a detour for county Rt. 28 in order to install a box culvert on 38; and continuing the bicycle and hiking pathways along county Rt. 32 from Oxford to Greene.
State Route 12 project
As for improvements to Rt. 12, NYSDOT Region 9 Public Information Director David Hamburg said the tentative schedule calls for a $16.1 million project in Greene to begin in 2011. Plans are to widen the roadway and improve drainage systems at the road’s intersections with 41 and Chenango Street.
The schedule is subject to change, however. “With the fiscal circumstances such as they are, bid dates and project dates may have to move,” Hamburg said.
The plan to improve and upgrade the Route 12 corridor connecting Utica and Binghamton was hatched by a regional task force led by the Chenango County Chamber of Commerce back in 2000. The original cost estimate for the project was $40 million. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer was integral in securing an initial $24 million in federal funding.
Hamburg said no new improvements were planned for three other Chenango County intersections with Rt. 12, one in Sherburne (at Rt. 80), and two in Norwich (at state Rt. 23 and Lower Ravine Road). In a public address made last May at Unison Industries, Sen. Schumer admonished the NYSDOT for dragging their feet on the project and not addressing specific Chenango County intersections
The federal legislator said Rt. 12 was “a nightmare for the entire region” and the state’s transportation department had “made minimal effort to tackle the problem.”
Hamburg said the NYSDOT had discussed the project with Schumer’s office since his address. “He appreciates and understands that we are moving as diligently as we possibly can,” he said.
A spokesperson from Schumer’s office did not return a phone call.
“Route 12 is important to the DOT and we know how important it is for everyone in the corridor,” Hamburg said. “But, it is a matter of balancing our core assets and doing other work as well. ... We don’t have enough money and are unable to divert our work from higher priority work such as bridge safety and managing assets,’ Hamburg said.
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